


Meditation

by tehkittykat



Category: Earth: Final Conflict
Genre: GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-14
Updated: 2011-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-16 23:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehkittykat/pseuds/tehkittykat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spring has to come sometime, even for the Washington, DC embassy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meditation

**Author's Note:**

> Mild spoilers for the second and fourth seasons of E:FC.

Once, the gardens of the DC embassy were a place of reflection and meditation. The alien foliage had gradually become familiar, even beautiful as Da'an found his tenure on Earth lengthening, the once-straightforward task of seducing and subverting alien intelligence to suit Taelon purposes mutated hopelessly by necessity and growing respect to the much more perilous task of forming a true alliance between two disparate species. A small irony that the Synod's most senior contact specialist, who could personally count some dozen bloodless conquests to his reputation, should in time become the most ardent supporter of such an unprecedented allegiance. Ironic that he should then adopt a Kimera hybrid and find him to be as dear as his own biological child, risking everything to keep the child protected from the Commonality.

Perhaps _not_ ironic that the entire venture had failed, spectacularly. Boone had charged him with building a bridge between two species and then been brutally stolen away, leaving Da'an the sole architect whose only practical experience with bridges was destroying them. Zo'or and Liam both had trusted him for guidance, for their very lives... and to both he had visited peril and betrayal. Small wonder that Zo'or loathed him to the point of murder-by-proxy and Liam spent more time creatively finding excuses to stay out of the embassy than actually in his presence.

Now, Da'an remained in the lotus chair of his audience chamber and gazed out at the somnolent garden wistfully-- the ever-increasing antagonism between the rank and file of humanity and Companion interests precluded any enjoyment of the small plot without a heavily armed security detail, and it would have been tragic for the beleaguered gardener's careful work to be trampled under Volunteer boots in the name of increasingly dubious safety. There was nothing safe amid humanity anymore-- the small pockets of those still willing to extend their trust shrank or were silenced before Da'an could contact them. There was nothing safe in the Commonality-- terror of the looming death stasis weighted heavily on the minds of all the remaining active Taelons, and those left in positions of power turned to increasingly desperate moves to ward off the inevitable... himself, naturally, included. Indeed, there was nothing safe even within the confines of his own mind-- Da'an was too old to indulge in the self-delusion that he had emerged unscathed and unchanged from the surprisingly intense bonds he'd formed with his Protectors and his own transformations of the last few years.. and even if he _was_ that stupid, the constant gnawing hunger of the lingering kryss addiction was an unavoidable reminder.

Silently, Da'an observed the thin coat of snow over the garden, politely ignoring his young Protector's muttered grousing over the volume of paperwork that had accumulated over the course of one of his recent absences... a small wonder that Liam was even there, and the hybrid seemed interminably mired in adolescent touchiness. The unseasonable cold had probably killed most of the plant life, as it seemed bent on choking out the Taelons and, by extension, the humans as well. Da'an found his  hands fluttering slowly in the unceasing, unconscious physical expression of the shared, ever-encroaching dread that, despite his centuries at the heart of Taelon politics, he had been unable to completely place under conscious control.

"What are you looking at? The squirrel?"

The innocent question pulled Da'an from his reverie, and he half-turned to look at his half-Kimera charge curiously. There were four or five of the small Earth rodents in the garden, their antics the only sign of life in the snowy landscape, but something in Liam's unusually boyish grin invited an attempt at deeper understanding. Da'an silently blessed the child for providing such a timely distraction from the morbid turn of his thoughts, however fleeting, and obligingly played along.

"Squirrel, Liam? There are clearly multiple squirrels in the garden."

"Nah.. see, it's really just one squirrel, but it moves really fast," Liam said, striding to a stop next to the lotus chair and peering out the floor-to-ceiling virtual glass windows. There was a touch of something artificial to his movements, but only patience would reveal the purpose for Liam's sudden attempt at small conversation.

"Another of your rather unique personal insights into quantum physics?" Da'an said, half-smiling.

"No. Oh _no_. No more personal physics experiments. It's hardly fair," Liam said, his hands up in surrender. "I have enough weird stuff happen to me on a daily basis to worry about copies of myself."

Da'an turned back to the view, faintly amused, though Liam soon broke the silence again.

"Da'an?"

"Yes, Liam?"

"Can we start over?" Liam said, his tone serious. Da'an looked sideways at him, watching the Protector fidget from the corners of his eyes.

"Elaborate, please."

"We're really stuck with each other until the end. I guess it just recently sank in, but after that red herring with the Jaridian fleet.. the world almost fell apart all by itself, no atmosphere-destroying alien superweapons needed. Like it or not, I guess we're stuck with each other. Humans and Taelons.. and Kimera, I guess," Liam said, shrugging a little to try and hide his embarrassment at reversing the  position he had once so ardently defended. "Neither of us has been doing a great job of just personally getting along, and that's pretty _bad_ if _we_ can't manage it... so can we start over?"

Emotion, small and nameless and curiously exultant, fluttered through Da'an and he could feel the thin skin of his human facade fade away. For a change, he didn't bother to reclaim it, though the habit had become on the level of reflex. He observed Liam swallow nervously, saw the hybrid's anxiety for the fear of rejection that it was rather than the unwelcome reminder of Liam's Kimera heritage, and _considered_.

Could he once more throw his old ways of thinking to the wind and walk forward with his impetuous Protector? Dare he, with the looming destabilization of the Commonality? Should he, when more and more often it seemed that no matter what tactic he attempted it was met with failure that rapidly spread to harm innocents?

By the time Da'an had rebuilt his human face, his mind was made up. Silently, he offered one hand to Liam and felt the familiar buzz of the young hybrid's mind just barely brushing his own in this more intimate greeting. Felt the jolt of Liam's reflected, incredulous joy at Da'an's acceptance and the renewal of the connection between them.

"Perhaps we can begin by walking in the garden.. that we can take inspiration from the renewal that comes so easily to nature," Da'an offered. Liam grinned, his hold on his Companion changing to one of support so that the Taelon could step easily from the lotus chair.

"Maybe we can even corner the squirrel," Liam said cheerfully, genuinely cheerfully, as the pair began the long amble down the spiraling corridors of the embassy, both of them perhaps stepping a little more lightly than before.

"Perhaps we can, Liam. Perhaps we can."


End file.
